Lakewood Computer Clubhouse & Robotics Center

School is out and summer hours have begun at the the Clubhouse. Here is what is going on…

Mondays – At the Clubhouse at Harrison Prep – Open 8:00-2:45 (Design Squad from 9:00 to Noon).

Tuesdays – At the Clubhouse at Harrison Prep – Open 8:00-2:45 (A Software Challenge from 9:00 to Noon).

Wednesdays – At the Clubhouse at Lakewood Presbyterian – Open 8:00-2:45 (Robotics from 9:00 to Noon).

Thursdays – At the Clubhouse at Harrison Prep – Open 8:00-2:45 (Geeks & Webmasters from 9:00 to Noon).

Fridays – At the Clubhouse at Lakewood Presbyterian – Open 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm.  Campfire if the weather cooperates.

The Clubhouse is wrapping up the school year – maybe the good weather will stick around a a bit.

As for the schedule – there are some changes.

This Thursday (17th) – the Clubhouse is closed.  Rain and I are doing an event for Lakewood’s Promise.  Next week the Clubhouse will be closed  so we can prepare the place for the summer.  Robotics will still happen on Wednesday.

June 26th is SummerFEST at Ft Steilacoom Park, in Lakewood.  Rain and I need help running the Lakewood’s Promise booth from 11:00 to 7:00.  We need help guarding painted wagons, helping with the silent auction of the painted wagons, helping kids memorize the five promises, and helping those kids sign their name to a special wagon.

Please let me know if you are able to help out for some of the time.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day Weekend – in spite of the rain.

This Wednesday the Clubhouse will be visited by the City of Lakewood, from which we get funding.  The visit will happen at noon which is an awkward time because we generally have no kids at noon on Wednesdays.  Some Harrison Prep students may be there but they too, are having a unique “week without walls”.

So — if any homeschoolers or out-of-schoolers are available on Wednesday, noonish, to populate the Clubhouse, then feel free to stop by.

On Saturday, May 22nd (That’s right – a Saturday) the Clubhouse at Harrison Prep will be open from 10:00 to 3:00 to celebrate our 8th Birthday!  YAY!

May 22nd is also SCRATCH DAY.  All around the world, people young and old will be working on Scratch projects and our Clubhouse will join in.

We have invited teachers to our Scratch Day so hopefully, they will learn Scratch enough to take to their classrooms.    So  on Saturday, we need enthusiastic members to help out and show-off Scratch.

Of course, we will also have cake and ice cream to celebrate an amazing eight years of our Clubhouse.  Come prepared to party, come prepared to teach others and show off your skills,  and come prepared to work on Scratch.

YES – the Clubhouse is open in the summer.  There will be 8 one-week sessions for youth, ages 10-18,  that include Design Squad,  software challenges, robotics, WordPress and fun.

Hours will be Monday-Thursday, 8:00 AM to Noon;  Fridays, 5:00-10:00 PM.

You can find the 2010 summer schedule HERE.

Spaces are limited so be sure to sign up early.

On Monday, May 10th @ 3pm the girls at the Computer Clubhouse will be doing an investigation into pollution in the Lake City neighborhood. This will include a short walk to American Lake where we will collect water and soil samples. Get ready to make some interesting discoveries!

Now is a great time to get involved with Clubhouse robotics.  How many teams will the Computer Clubhouse enter this year?  We are meeting Wednesdays at the Clubhouse at Lakewood Pres.  5:30 to 8:00.

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The Lakewood Computer Clubhouse will host the first meeting of the Lakewood Robotics Consortium, Wednesday March 17th, 6:00 to 8:00 PM.  The meeting will take place at the Clubhouse at Lakewood Presbyterian Church – 8601 104th St SW – Lakewood –  WA – 98498.

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal.

Consortium is a Latin word, meaning ‘partnership, association or society’ and derives from consors ‘partner’, itself from con- ‘together’ and sors ‘fate’, meaning owner of means or comrade.

The purpose of the consortium is to promote robotics, organize and train robotics teams , furnish mentors and provide information on competitions.  The goal is to pool resources in such a way that Lakewood youth have an opportunity to learn robotics and Lakewood teams are represented in numerous regional competitions.  Computer Clubhouse youth have participated in First Lego League and VEX competitions but there are several other types out there.    See HERE and HERE

Our first meeting will include demonstrating LEGO NXT and VEX robotics, youth and teens talking about their competition experiences and a brainstorming session on how to get youth involved.

Parents, teachers, youth, college students are all welcome to attend.